Pure Spanish, all the way

"Are the Spanish different than you expected?" my host father asked in Spanish on our man-date of pizza and beer en route to renting a movie for the rest of the family.
"They´re more direct," I answered in Spanish. "I expected the relaxed, exotic Mediterranean type. Maybe that´s more true in Southern Spain than in Madrid."
"Yes, definitely," he nodded.
"And the Spanish are louder, too," I said.
He agreed. The Spanish are loud.
"I like how direct they are," I said. "But the Spanish always think they´re right."
Once, I explained, I had been chatting with a woman about her son. In mid-conversation, out of nowhere, she locked into my eyes and said forcefully, "My Spanish is pure. Pure. You should listen to me"
Alberto, my host father, wondered what she had even meant by "pure Spanish." What did she mean?
They don´t always think they´re right. On average, though, they´re more cocksure than the Californians I´ve met.
You can see some of that hyper-confidence in my kids, especially in the logic used when they don´t get their way.
"I want the whole bag of M&Ms," Hector, the five-year old, said.
"You can have half the bag," said Margie, my host family´s live-in nanny.
"I said THE WHOLE BAG!" (Margie must have misunderstood.)
Or how about:
"Why did you throw sand at your brother?" I asked, when we were in the garden on a short break from English lessons.
"Porque sí."
In English, that´s "Because yes."
And two girls from this program with whom I´ve been chilling both say the same things about their children, right down to the "Porque sí."
Still, I love these kids. Hector and Dario (the three-year-old) are adorable, and they like learning English.
To ask to start lessons, they say "Quiero jugar inglés." "I want to play English." It´s so cute.
At their ages, the lessons are a bit like play. They sing songs from the texbook´s CD -- ("My name´s Cookie, Cookie the Cat, say hello to Cookie, hello hello hello"). They draw in the coloring book section of the textbooks (we review each object that they color in, so they learn vocabulary). We examine toys and objects around the room (I pick up the toy dinosaur and introduce "teeth," "hands," "tongue," etc.). And, we play games (for example, to learn colors, a form of the game "red light, yellow light, green light").
Meanwhile, this Saturday, Hector and Dario are having a joint birthday party. I hope I don´t fall asleep -- the "going away party" for one of the girls in the program is this Friday, so we´re clubbing all night. It´s a bit ridiculous. After traveling 6000 miles, I´m mostly hanging out with Californians. Thankfully, I´ll be saved by an aspect of the Spanish I did know to expect, an appreciation for the siesta.